Identification and Comparison of Aircraft Industry Clusters in China and United States

Aircraft industry is very important to the economy and security of a country,and aircraft industry clusters have already existed in the world.Based on Input-Output data and Czamanski's method,the aircraft industry clusters in China and USA were identified quantitatively in this paper.Furthermore,this article carried out comparison analyses of the identification results.The research finds out:1) a mature aircraft industry cluster would be generally composed of 7 industrial subgroups,including aircraft industry,metal making and products manufacturing industry,machinery and equipment industry,electronics industry,automobile industry,material industry and others,and electronics industrial subgroup will play a more and more important role in the cluster;2) in the range of industry-covering,the level of industry-linkage,and the economic performance,there is a tremendously large gap between the aircraft industry cluster of China and that of USA;3) the spatial evolution of these clusters or centers is highly consistent with the diffusion of a country's industrialization.Finally,based on those findings,the paper gives some advice on how to improve Czamanski's method and what China should do to develop its own competitive aircraft industry:1) China should employ institutional innovation,and turn to be market-oriented;2) China should abandon the traditional pattern of closed-development,and strengthen the interaction and collaboration between aircraft industry and related industries,especially the electronics industry;3) China should rectify and perfect its spatial development planning of aircraft industry.